Afghanistan

[chris_gerrib]

I watched Obama's speech about Afghanistan last night, courtesy of my DVR. I was going to write my analysis of the speech today, but Jim Wright over at Stonekettle Station beat me to it.

His analysis? Fuckin’ A. Thank you and good night.

If that's too brief for you, here's my "longer" version:

1) We have a defined plan with reasonable metrics.
2) The plan recognizes the costs, priorities and other issues facing America.
3) Adequate resources were supplied, based on an analysis of facts on the ground.
4) There were no illusions about what the end state will be. Afghanistan will not be a "beacon of democracy." It will be a more-or-less stable country, not ran by the Taliban.

As an added bonus, it's consistent with what Obama campaigned on. Funny thing about this guy - he tends to do what he says he's going to do.

Comments

[jetfx.livejournal.com]

Rather terrible for the Afghans don't you think? One bad government replaces another after a decade of conflict, the major difference being that this new government isn't a threat to the United States.

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

Well, yes. But as a citizen of the US, my first priority is protecting the US. Creating a good government in a foreign country is much lower on the list.

[jetfx.livejournal.com]

True enough, but we're still deciding the fates of other nations here, for our own interest without much of their consent.

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

Agreed. However, at the end of the day, we have to do what's right for us.

Morally, in this particular case, Afghanistan did allow itself to be used as a base to attack the US. They have no *moral* claim to more than what we chose to give them.